Hitachi America appoints Vice President marketing : The Ubiquitous Platform Systems Division of Hitachi America, a subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd, announced the appointment of 15-year consumer electronics veteran Daniel Lee to the position of vice president of marketing. Lee will direct Hitachi's U.S.-based marketing, communications and advertising strategies across the company's complete line of consumer electronics, including high-definition plasma, LCD and projection televisions, and DVD camcorders. Additionally, Lee will be responsible for Hitachi's expanding brand awareness efforts, including its new "Power Unleashed" integrated national advertising campaign. Mr. Lee will be based out of Hitachi's San Diego, California office.

Toshiba & SanDisk Continue Technology and Market Leadership : Toshiba Corporation and SanDisk Corporation announced today that, further to definitive agreements that the companies entered into in July 2006, construction has started of Fab 4, a 300-millimeter (mm) wafer fab, in Yokkaichi, in Mie Prefecture, Japan. The NAND flash memory market is growing fast, on healthy growth in a wide range of digital electronic applications, including MP3 music players, mobile phones and several kinds of memory cards. Toshiba and SanDisk started operation of a state-of-the-art 300-millimeter wafer fab, Fab 3, in summer 2005, at Yokkaichi Operations, and have boosted the facility’s capacity to meet market demand.

SanDisk appoints Atsuyoshi Koike: Sandisk announced the appointment of Dr. Atsuyoshi Koike as president of SanDisk Limited, the company's wholly-owned subsidiary in Japan. Dr. Koike's primary focus will be on technology and Fab operations at SanDisk's flash wafer development and manufacturing facility at Yokkaichi, where SanDisk has a strategic partnership with Toshiba. With more than 20 years of experience managing the development of emerging technologies on the corporate level, Dr. Koike, 53, will report to Dr. Randhir Thakur, executive vice president of technology and worldwide operations. SanDisk has been the largest foreign investor in leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing in Japan in the past few years.

PhotoWorks CEO Philippe Sanchez resigns : PhotoWorks, an Internet based digital photo-publishing company, today announced that Philippe Sanchez has tendered his resignation from day to day operations as President and CEO having successfully completed the turnaround of PhotoWorks. Sanchez will remain in an advisory capacity with PhotoWorks as a director on the Company's Board. "I was brought on board in late 2003 to drive the turnaround of PhotoWorks; a task which has now been successfully completed," said Sanchez. "PhotoWorks has emerged from this transformation as a creative and innovative force, and is well positioned to capitalize on the continuing explosion of digital photography."

SanDisk Corporation to acquire Msystems : SanDisk Corporation the world's largest supplier of flash memory data storage card products and msystems Ltd. today entered into definitive agreements for SanDisk to acquire msystems in an all stock transaction. This combination joins together two major flash memory pioneers with complementary products, customers and channels. Together the combined company will have the people, technology, manufacturing and IP to play a leading role in creating new markets and accelerating the penetration of flash memory into existing storage applications. "SanDisk and msystems, over the past 18 years, have been leading innovators in the flash memory storage market.

X-Rite acquires Amazys Holding : X-Rite, Incorporated (Nasdaq: XRIT), a global leader offering color measurement technology solutions, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Amazys Holding AG for a purchase price of CHF 77 per share plus 2.11 shares of X-Rite, Incorporated stock for each Amazys share. The total purchase price on the settlement date of July 5, 2006 was approximately $280 million. The acquisition was financed through a combination of cash, debt and X-Rite stock. Amazys develops, markets and supports hardware, software and services to measure and communicate color under the GretagMacbeth brand. The new combined company will be called X-Rite, Incorporated.

Fujifilm acquires Dimatix Inkjet Printhead manufacturer : Fuji has made the decision to purchase Dimatix, Inc. (headquarters: California, USA), the leading manufacturer of industrial inkjet printheads. A purchase agreement has recently been concluded and the transaction is expected to be completed in July 2006. Dimatix will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujifilm. Dimatix is a world leader in the research, development, manufacture and sale of printheads used in industrial inkjet printers, which are increasingly being used in such fields as outdoor advertising and packaging materials. As such, the company supplies printheads and provides after-sales service to printer manufacturers and various other users.

Mamiya new digital imaging company : Mamiya-OP, in Japan, who has three business divisions including Camera, Golf, and Electronic. Equipment, has recently announced that its Camera Division will be transferred to a new company to be called Mamiya Digital Imaging. The MAC Group (Mamiya America Corporation) is very enthusiastic about Mamiya’s future. As previously announced, there will be no change in Mamiya business activities in the US, including marketing, sales and service. Mamiya Digital Imaging will concentrate its efforts on expanding development of the Mamiya ZD Digital Camera, Mamiya Digital Back and all current Mamiya cameras and lenses.